Halfway Through September.............

 ..................already.................and the 2023 Strictly Come Dancing launch show is on TV tonight so we know it's Autumn.

This week in Suffolk....................

Lots of garden clearing done, although I can't do as much at a time as I used to - and there is still so much to do but after I'd cut down just half of one of the three buddleias  the council garden waste bin was straight away three quarters full again. 

A couple of weeks ago I managed to empty one compost bin into the wheelbarrow plus a big tub thing  and turned the full bin over into the empty one,(really hard work!) but buddleia and rose prunings are too tough for rotting down in my bins so they have to go out in the waste bin.

The compost made is a year old and looked good but I can't get it onto the garden yet because all the vegetable beds are still covered with plants so there's nowhere to put it. 

I was pulling out weeds and grass from around the supposed-to-be-red Hazel and a frog hopped out-  which is hopeful. I've put a terracotta pot upside down in the sink- pond to make a temporary step in case he finds his way in. Perhaps this weekend it would be an idea to get some plants to add in even though I've not finished around the outside of the pond yet.

Out the front of the house the previous owners made a very narrow flower bed running down one side of the path - it's very shingly poor soil, lower than the 'lawn' and the grass  keeps spreading over it but  I've not really got the energy to dig it wider, so I've taken out the Lady's Mantle and a small clump of pinks and moved them into the border in the back garden. One more plant to move then some soil needs adding to level the bed and I'll be able to mow right to the path.

One more job done was to remove the small stepping stone slabs that I put between patio and greenhouse door two years ago. The grass just kept growing over them and I got fed up with having to cut round them with the edging spade. I've refilled the holes I dug with dirt and the grass will soon cover them again. 

So how's  low spending September going?

Week two wasn't too bad................

Food shopping last Saturday £14.61 (fruit and other things that were running short)

Printing out the photo of Eldest Grandson for the frame  55p

Parcel back to him of something he left behind £3.79

Swimming £3

Half a dozen eggs from roadside stall £1.25 (they were £1 until recently)

Exercise group £1.50

My main meals since last weekend using things here already

Sunday - The 3rd piece of vegetable/cheese quiche made on Friday eaten with sweetcorn, runner beans and courgette (all from garden)

Monday - The 4th and final piece of a quiche with sweetcorn and beetroot(both from the garden).

Tuesday - Last of the "Artisan"-expensive-never-to-be-bought-again-burgers and roast vegetables (from the garden except potatoes)

Wednesday - Leeks from the garden used in a Leek and Bacon Pilaff -(a new favourite 30 minute meal)

Thursday - Home made vegetable pasty from freezer plus sweetcorn and runner beans from garden

Friday- Stir fried vegetables -home grown except carrot with belly pork slice in hoisin sauce and noodles. Think the pork had been in the freezer for months - it's something I'll not buy again.

Today- Pizza on a home made base with home made topping which I batch make and freeze - plus salad of cucumber, tomato and red pepper - it's the last of the cucumbers.

Every other day this week I've been picking a handful of Autumn raspberries from the canes that were already here - nice extra treat.

 I'm reading from my shelves until library day next week and choose one of the books picked up from the church sale - H.E.Bates - Fair Stood the Wind for France. Why had I never read this before? It's a good story .

Perhaps it's because it's described as a Modern Classic and I used to avoid anything that said it was a "classic" - the word makes me think of dull, dreary and hard work = Dickens or Austen (apologies to fans of their work but I'm Not!)

If you watched Only Connect on BBC 2 on Monday and do the NYT Wordle did you get the answer to one of the sequences? It was the words that pop up when you get the word in 3,4,5 or 6 goes. 6 is Phew! and that was what popped up for me on Friday's Wordle - a tricky one with lots of possible words for the letters I got right just  keeping my current run of 33 correct words going. 6 missed out of 195.

And that's my week rounded up in a few sentences .

Bring on the weekend!

Back Monday

Sue